With prices for many food items and fuel hitting record highs this summer, restaurants were forced to raise the prices of their dishes beyond historical norms, producing a bitter proposition for customers watching the values of their homes and investment portfolios shrink.

Now, with food inflation expected to ease next year and the price of oil already in freefall, analysts will be watching whether restaurants can hold onto those price gains taken in recent years and allow the benefit of falling food costs to trickle down to the bottom line.

It may be tough to do, however. In the deep downturns in the early 1980s and 1990s, restaurants used falling food prices to slash menu prices to help consumers open their wallets, according to Morgan Stanley restaurant analyst John Glass. The dynamic didn’t play out in 2001 since the economic dip was not as long-lasting.

“When food costs fall and demand for food falls, restaurants typically use it as an opportunity to discount,” Glass said during a recent conference call.

Discounts, combo meals and value menus have become top of mind among restaurant executives in recent months as chains grapple with how to convince diners with less disposable income and more options from supermarkets to come to their tables. At times of higher ingredient costs such deals squeezed margins, but as food costs come down, selling items at lower prices won’t eat into profits as much.

And now, sticker shock at the grocery store?

Shoppers who note rising prices at the grocery store are not alone. The U. S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that, over the last two years, food prices have risen faster than at any time since 1990. In 2007, prices for all food purchased in the U.S. increased 4.0 percent — up from a 2.4 percent increase in 2006, a Kansas State University specialist said.

While the Bureau reports that Americans typically spend about 10 percent of their after-tax income on food, low-income families are not faring as well, said Mary Meck Higgins, a registered dietitian and Kansas State University Research and Extension nutrition specialist.

A 2005 Consumer Expenditure Survey indicated that households earning from $10,000 to $14,999 (before taxes) spent an average of 25 percent on food; households earning $15,000 to $19,999 (before taxes) spent 19 percent on food, Higgins said.

Retailers who combine food, general merchandise and value have been surviving the recession better than most, but even Wal-Mart and Costco haven’t been as creatively aggressive in using that formula to promote their stores as has Grand Rapids, Mich., based Meijer.

With stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, Meijer has recently benefited from trouble at Sears Holding, which reduced the threat from Sears and Kmart. But it has been getting socked by the expansion of Wal-Mart and Target in the markets where it operates. In response, Meijer has become more food oriented, expanding service and gourmet operations as it builds in better apparel, housewares, electronics, pet products and sporting goods. Even when introducing fancier products, though, it promotes value — for example, placing wine near the prepared dinners it displays to offer a less expensive but elegant alternative to eating out.

More pointedly, Meijer has taking pains to convince customers that it understands when and where they need a break. For instance, as gas prices marched upward over the past couple of years, the retailer introduced a service that notified customers by cell phone shortly before it increased fuel prices at its store-run pumps in an effort to address the gas price concerns of customers in the drive-everywhere Midwest. Also, as drug chains, discounters and supermarkets lowered prices on generic prescription drugs, Meijer decided to provide the antibiotics most often prescribed for children free of charge, an initiative it positioned as a service to families pressed by increasing medical costs and bigger insurance contributions.

Now word comes that Meijer is providing a twist on a typical holiday promotion. As the season culminates, it is offering shoppers five-percent-off coupons for their next grocery purchase when they spend $100 on general merchandise, including apparel and housewares. Shoppers who spend enough can get up to four coupons in any single trip, then combine them for a maximum 20 percent savings on their next visit. Checkouts have been churning out the coupons since the program began on Nov. 30, said Meijer spokesman Frank Guglielmi, and will continue to do so as the late holiday shopping period peaks on Dec. 24. Consumers can redeem the coupons through Dec. 31.

Grocery stores, like consumers’ food budgets, are shrinking.

This month Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opened four pilot Marketplace stores in Arizona that are half the size of a traditional supermarket.

Supervalu-owned Jewel-Osco is testing its own small-format store in Chicago known as Urban Fresh. Safeway is trying its version in Southern California. And Whole Foods has said it is scaling down the size of its new stores.

The format has worked for some companies, such as Trader Joe’s, for years. But the idea is spreading as grocers are coping with rising costs and limited capital and find themselves pressed to find more profitable formats. It’s part of increasing competition with existing small stores and British company Tesco PLC, which launched its first small Fresh & Easy store about a year ago and now has nearly 100 around the West.